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(AP) — As unhittable as Jordan Hicks‘ 105 mph heater can be, a pitch clocked a little bit closer to the speed limit might ultimately be what makes him the St. Louis Cardinals’ closer.Developing the slider, a pitch Hicks began to get a feel for late last season, into a reliable second option has been Hicks’ focus this spring.“I felt like I needed to come in prepared, more ready to go with a better arsenal,” Hicks said. “Closers, they normally have pretty dirty secondary pitches.”Hicks threw seven of baseball’s 10 fastest pitches last season, when 659 of his offerings were clocked at 100 mph or higher.He only reached 102 mph Thursday in his spring debut, but that was plenty fast enough to keep Mets hitters off balance when the high-80s slider seemingly lumbered toward and dove away from the plate.“He’s already an amazing weapon,” St. Louis manager Mike Shildt said.If he could master the slider?“Then he would be a force,” Shildt said.Hicks earned six saves as a rookie last season, but Shildt isn’t in a hurry to anoint the 22-year-old righty the Cardinals’ closer.In one of the offseason’s higher-profile, free-agent moves St. Louis signed Andrew Miller to a two-year, $25 million contract.Known for his multi-inning shutdown performances, Miller could close for the Cardinals, reprise his multi-inning stopper role, or, as a left-hander, be the match-up call within a division teaming with potent left-handed offensive threats, most notably Chicago’s Anthony Rizzo, Cincinnati’s Joey Votto Alex Bregman Jersey , and Milwaukee’s Christian Yelich.Miller, 33, had 36 of his 53 career saves for the New York Yankees in 2015.“I had a blast doing it,” Miller said. “It’s a pretty unique position to be in — your name and the game on the line.”The physical progression of three players currently at different stages of recovery from injuries could also affect what the Cardinals do with the final innings. St. Louis signed Luke Gregerson to close games last season, but a shoulder issue limited the righty to only 12 2/3 innings last season, none of which resulted in a save.Gregerson will throw his first bullpen in a couple of days.The Cardinals also have to determine how they’ll handle top pitching prospect Alex Reyes, who’s only pitched in four innings over the past two seasons after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2017 and tearing his lat muscle last season. He’s impressed this spring and will make his Grapefruit League debut in the coming days.The Cardinals consider Reyes to be a starter, but with a plethora of starting candidates in camp they could elect to ease Reyes into action from the bullpen, much like they did with Carlos Martinez last season.Martinez saved five games late last year as he returned from a shoulder injury. He’s been shut down because of weakness in the same shoulder and will be re-evaluated on March 12. Martinez wouldn’t have enough time to make the opening day roster as a starter but could be ready to work out of the bullpen should St. Louis want him there. Though they say you can’t predict baseball, still we all try."WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Twinkie Town Farm ReportSatire, Irreverence, & Other HumorGame RecapsPredictions fromFiveThirtyEight and ESPN show contrasting results for TwinsNew,2commentsThough they say you can’t predict baseball, still we all try.EDTShareTweetShareSharePredictions fromFiveThirtyEight and ESPN show contrasting results for TwinsThat’s a thermometer, not a projected win total.Brad Rempel-USA TODAY SportsIn advance of Opening Day for teams that aren’t Seattle and Oakland, sports websites, including the one you’re reading, are releasing their 2019 MLB predictions. Two popular sites, FiveThirtyEight and ESPN, published theirs Wednesday morning. The sites reached their conclusions differently - FiveThirtyEight simulated the season 100,000 times and relies on analytics for statistical projections http://www.astrosfanproshop.com/authentic-justin-verlander-jersey , while ESPN polled 31 in-house baseball experts - but did they end up with the same results? Let’s see.(If you’d like to read them as well, here are the links to FiveThirtyEight’s and ESPN’s predictions, as well as those to the former’s AL “Favorites and Breakout Picks” and the latter’s power rankings. I’ve included each in my comparison.)Division resultsAs expected, both FiveThirtyEight and ESPN project the Cleveland Indians to claim the AL Central. FiveThirtyEight predicts Cleveland will finish the season with a 95-67 record, tied for third-best in the major leagues, while ESPN’s experts are similarly bullish, with 28 of their prognosticators selecting the Indians. Their power rankings (ranked by poll, but with predicted records and World Series odds calculated by one person) put Cleveland seventh in the league, winning the division with a 92-70 mark.While there’s not a lot of divergence regarding Minnesota’s placement, there is when it comes to record. Sorting the teams by their ELO rating, FiveThirtyEight puts the Twins 16th, second in the AL Central with an average but still respectable 84 wins and 78 losses. ESPN also guesses that the Twins will come in second - only three experts give the Twins the Central crown - and slots them similarly in their power rankings (17th), but projects them to win just 78 games, exactly the reverse of FiveThirtyEight’s average simulation.Why the six-game difference - a difference that shifts Minnesota from a winning season to a losing one? We have access to more details of FiveThirtyEight’s predictions than ESPN’s, so it’s possible to extrapolate a guess.Option 1: IntradivisionalOne detail we can directly compare is intradivisional success. worse against the weaker teams in the AL and demonstrate that they can be as mediocre as anyone. Both models rank seven teams below the Twins. Three of those are AL Central competition, so we will exclude them for now. FiveThirtyEight ranks the Angels below Minnesota, but it’s ESPN we’re looking at, so I will leave them out as well.The teams we are now examining are thus:Seattle Mariners (21st, 21st)Toronto Blue Jays (23rd, 22nd)Texas Rangers (25th, 25th)Baltimore Orioles (30th Brian McCann Jersey , 30th)And their predicted records are:Predicted bottom AL teams 2019TeamFiveThirtyEightESPNTeamFiveThirtyEightESPNFinally, ESPN totals more wins than FiveThirtyEight... but just a single W. And the Orioles gain four on their own. Something’s up here.Only one variable in the Twins’ schedule remains:Option 4: InterleagueThe Twins play 20 games against National League opponents during the 2019 season:three against the Philadelphia Phillies,four against the New York Mets,four against the Milwaukee Brewers,three against the Miami Marlins,three against the Atlanta Braves,and, completing the NL East (plus Milwaukee), three against the Washington Nationals.Comparing their records, we have:Predicted interleague opponents 2019TeamFiveThirtyEightESPNTeamFiveThirtyEightESPNAt last, ESPN bumps four wins off the Twins. It’s not six, but it’s the closest we’ve gotten. As this final option accounts for the remaining teams on their schedule, it’s as far as we will get.Of course, not all extra wins or losses will come against Minnesota, but it’s fascinating how two teams can be considered in the middle of the pack, yet if one prediction were to come to pass, it would be considered far superior to the other based on a difference of just six games.